The Virtues of Napping

Many people experience a natural increase in drowsiness and a slump in mood and alertness in the afternoon. To overcome these ill effects and to make oneself more alert, improve cognitive functioning and reduce stress, one needs a nap.

A Mid-day sleep, or a ‘power nap’ increases patience levels, reduces stress, increases efficiency and learning and promotes better health.

Here’s how a power nap can help you!

To maximize the benefits of this quick, no-cost route to physical and emotional health, try these napping strategies

• Be consistent: As much as possible, stick to the same routine so that you don’t disrupt your biological clock and nocturnal sleep pattern. A 20 minute nap is ideal for most people.. it provides enough restorative down-time without lulling you into the deeper, harder-to-snap-out-of stages of sleep.

• Time it right: The ideal time to nap is around 3:00 p.m. for most people. But remember, that each of us has our own internal clock, so no specific time is off-limits, unless it interferes with your nighttime sleep.

• Cue your body: Follow a similar pre-nap routine everyday – closing the door, turning off the lights, etc. In time these actions will help to make you feel ready for sleep.

• Avoid night napping: If you delay your falling asleep time, making it harder to get up in the morning.

• Don’t fret if you don’t fall asleep: Merely lying down and resting is as beneficial to the body as actually snoozing. Reclining helps you feel as if you have slept much longer than you actually did.

• Monitor the effects of you nap: If you nap easily but have a hard time falling asleep at your regular bedtime, you may need to shorten or cut out daytime naps.

What’s your napping style?

While some people have trouble napping, most of us succumb to the need for a nap at one time or another, depending on our biological clock and typical sleep patterns.

• Replacement sleepers nap to get a much-needed energy boost, because they don’t sleep enough at night.

• Split sleepers regularly divide their total sleeping into two periods – midday and night.

• Long sleepers simply enjoy more than a ‘full’ night’s sleep.

• Prophylactic sleepers nap to store up for a planned deficit because they have work obligations, or plan to travel later or have a night out.